1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet carrier apparatus having a mechanism for changing the direction in which sheets to be carried are moved and a picture image recording apparatus equipped with the sheet carrier apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
To change the course in which a sheet is carried along a carrier path, for example, the mechanism shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 has been generally used.
FIG. 24 shows an example of a mechanism for changing the course of sheets to be carried in a given direction. Numeral 53 denotes a rubber belt, which is pulled by a suitable tensile force between rollers 51 and 52 which are rotatable around fixed shafts. A sheet to be carried is pressed against a main roller 41 and grasped between the roller 41 and the small rollers 51 and 52. The main roller 41 is driven to rotate so as to change the direction in which a carrier sheet is carried.
FIG. 25 shows an example of a mechanism for selecting the course of a carrier sheet from among a plurality of given directions by using a guide plate. Numeral 80 denotes a movable guide plate. Selection of a state shown by either a solid line or a dotted line can be made, which allows the direction of the course of a carrier sheet to be selected from between the directions P and Q.
In the above-mentioned embodiment shown in FIG. 24, however, the direction of the course of a carrier sheet cannot be changed except in a predetermined direction. Nor, in the example of the prior art shown in FIG. 25, can a change of course be made except in a plurality of predetermined directions.
Further, in the example of the prior art shown in FIG. 25, where a sheet to be carried is a film or the like, if the curvature of a carrier path by means of a guide plate is small, there is a possibility that the surface of a film curved along the carrier path will rub against the guide plate when the course is changed, thereby causing damage to the emulsion coating of the film and deteriorating the recorded picture image.
An apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,838, U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,299, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,909, which has a mechanism by which one of a pair of rotary rollers that carry a sheet by grasping it in a fastened state can move around the other roller planetarily and can carry out a sheet in a given direction different from the direction in which the sheet was inserted between a roller pair.
However, these mechanisms permit sheets to be carried only in a predefined direction and lack a degree of freedom. Practically, they only provide a function equivalent to a guide plate.